Improvement in tremolo attachments for reed instruments



PATENT OFFICE.

ELIAS I). NEEDIIAM, OF NEW YORK., N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN TREMOLO ATTACHMENTS FOR REED INSTRUMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 117,666, dated Augustl, 1871.

To all whom it may conce/ra:

Be it known that I, ELIAS I. NEEDHAM, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in TremoloAttachments of Musical Instruments; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing forming part of thisspecification, and in which- Figure l represents a plan of the interiorof the wind-passage or chamber of a reed-organ with my improved tremoloapplied thereto; Fig. 2, a longitudinal section through the line a: a inFig. l; and Fig. 3, a transverse sectionthereof through the line y y,the working parts being represented full size.

Similarletters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral figures.

My invention relates to that description of tremolo for reed and pipemusical instruments, such as organs and melodeons, in which a flap-valveis used to agitate the air. The invention consists in supporting thevalve upon a flexible diaphragm, which forms the valve-seat and is freeto vibate both with and ii'idependently of the valve; also, in acombination of said diaphragm, having a perforation in it for passage ofthe air, with a nap-valve and a perforated partition in the windpassagc,together with openings or passages arranged to conduct the air throughthe pipes or reeds. By this improvement a most sensitive and perfecttremolo is produced.

In the accompanying drawing, A represents the wind-passage, and b theoutlet through which the air is passed when the bellows is in operation.B is one of the reeds, and c the opening admitting the air to or throughthe latter. E is a horizontal partition or dividing-board within theairpassage, an d d d holes therein through which the air passes from thereeds to the outlet b.

This

partition E is covered, or for the most part, with a diaphragm, II, ofIndia rubber or other suitable flexible material, which diaphragm isfastened down at its edges onto the beard E, but is made with a slot oropening, c, through its body beneath the closing portion f of the valveG. This valve is constructed of a body portion carried by a Iiexiblelower strip, g, which is secured to the diaphragm F by a rear block orboard, h, and the upper portion of the body ofthe valve provided with atremolo or agitatin g-leaf, B y this meth.- od of applying the valve ontheiiexible diaphragm F a most perfect and sensitive tremolo action isobtained, inasmuch as the air, in passing from the reeds or pipes to theoutlet I), through the perforated board E, causes the diaphragm to belifted, together with the valve, which opens by the action ofthebellows, and, being floated as it were, by the diaphragm, is much moresensitive and perfect, as regards its production of the tremolo, thanwhen the valve is seated on a xed or rigid surface, the iiexiblediaphragm vibrating as well as the valve. Vhether the air is forced ordrawn through the wind-passage a similar effect is produced.

WVhat is claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is

l. The attachment of the tremolovalve to a Iiexible diaphragm arrangedto form the valveseat, and which is free to vibrate in common with thevalve, essentially as herein set forth.

2. The combination ofthe perforated diaphragm F with the valve G, theperforated portion E in the wind-passage A, and passages or openingsarranged to conduct the air through the reeds or pipes, substantially asspecified.

E. I. NEEDIIAM. Vitncsses C. A. NEEM-IAM, HENRY T. BROWN.

